Heather's Top Ten Requirements for Successful Homeschooling

What does it take to succeed at home schooling? Here are my top ten requirements for homeschooling parents.

1. A successful homeschooling parent must be willing to engage fully with the process. You can't leave your brain at the door in this business.
2. A successful homeschooling parent must be willing to be a lifelong learner - they must make a careful study of their child, of the basic pedagogical methods, of the available curriculum, and then they must craft for themselves the best approach for their family as a whole and each individual child.
3. A successful homeschooling parent must be willing to take the time to translate long-term objectives (Read Shakespeare in grade nine) to short-term objectives (master basic phonics and develop pre-reading abilities) and daily tasks ("M" says "mmmm" "M-m-m-m0mmy").
   
4. A successful homeschooling parent must be willing to investigate the opportunities their community affords for extension and enrichment activities, and then commit themselves to involving their child(ren) in age- and interest-appropriate activities each week.
5. A successful homeschooling parent must have a place where they and the children can work each day - preferably a place that doesn't need to be cleared to eat the lunch; and a place to store the books, papers, pens, etc. that every classroom, no matter how small, may generate.
   
6. A successful homeschooling parent must be willing to provide structure for their children's daily life, because children need to know what to expect.
7. A successful homeschooling parent must be willing to throw the lesson plan out the window today, because sometimes real people and real life trump lessons.
8. A successful homeschooling parent must have a back-up -- preferably their spouse -- who believes in the project, reminds them of the long-term plan, problem solves when things get challenging, and plays the role of the principal.
9. A successful homeschooling parent must always refuse to play the comparison game -- must believe in themselves and their child sufficiently that they do not fall prey to what is a devastatingly frequent experience at any homeschooling event or activity ("Well, you know, when Jonny was two he could spell all the names of everyone in our family - evenGrandfather Methuselah." ) can have you doubting everything you've ever done when your seven-year-old is still working out how to sit still long enough to read the word "cat" never mind spell it.
10. A successful homeschooling parent must be willing to make appropriate mid-course corrections. The curriculum you thought you loved in September may just not be working -- but if you catch on to that by the middle of October, you will save much pain and anguish, and may well have successfully accomplished the underlying principle by June because of your change in approach.